Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 436 Walking in History
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Klein was pushed a few steps forward, and suddenly thought of something. He quickly said to Medici:

"Silver City has a camp outside the Giant King's Court!"

"I know they have a base in Afternoon Town, which is permanently manned. We can go straight from here to contact them."

"Afternoon Town?" Medici thought for two seconds, then turned to look at Hermes, "Do you remember this place?"

Hermes also recalled for a while before saying:
"remember."

"I remember that it seemed to be the town closest to the Giant King's Court. After the Giant King's Court became part of the Creator's Temple, the giants who originally lived here were driven away. Later, those who settled here were worshippers. It was like a gathering place for ascetics and devout believers."

Medici touched his chin:

"...A gathering place for pilgrims. I don't understand. So, Afternoon Town was the closest town during the 'Great Disaster'?"

Klein thought about it and nodded:

"When the team from Silver City was exploring Afternoon Town, they saw a phantom of a clergyman from the ancient Sun God era. The phantom kept repeating that someone had seduced Sasriel, and that the kings were frequently gathering at the palace, and that a great disaster would begin from here."

"Let's talk about it later. We can't touch them now."

Medici waved his hand casually and continued to push Hermes and Klein forward:

"We just passed through the symbolic 'gate'. We didn't appear outside the Giant King's Court. It's just because the Giant King's Court symbolizes the only gate to the God-Forsaken Land, so it looks like we came here directly."

"We are actually still on the road held by the Aurora Society. Even if we go out from here, we can't see the Afternoon Town and Silver City."

As he spoke, the world around him began to shake.

The sky filled with orange light gradually darkened, and the blurry scenes around gradually became real.

Having arrived at the East Continent, Hermes ended his dream walk. The orange-red sky above his head turned from dusk to midnight in a few seconds. They walked from the dream to reality. The sky was a dark blue that was almost black. Lightning and thunder exploded at a relatively low frequency, illuminating the endless wilderness. After nightfall, the temperature dropped sharply, and the cold wind blew the unknown plants on the ground crooked and fell.

The illusory waves and beaches disappeared one after another, Medici blew a breath, and flames ignited, illuminating the surrounding environment.

The pure darkness here is no longer dangerous, but you still need to be wary of the lightless environment, which is the best time for lurking monsters to attack, and it is also where hidden "dreams" and "secrets" still exist.

The phantom of the Giant King's Court disappeared. Klein looked around in astonishment. It seemed as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion.

At the same time, the moment he set foot on this land, Klein felt that he had a deeper and more specific understanding of the Eastern Continent and the God-Forsaken Land. As expected, scholars still have to go and explore in person, do archaeological research, and verify what they have learned in real ruins.

"When we go out, we have to go through the Giant King's Court. We must visit the Silver City and pass through Afternoon Town with them." Medici turned half a circle and pointed to the north. "By the way, we have to deal with the guy in the King's Court, otherwise none of us will be able to get out again."

"Can't we go back the same way?" Klein felt that the road we took was relatively safe.

"It would be best if we could return the same way, but we always have to make multiple plans."

Medici's words were irrefutable: "Who knows what kind of changes will happen? And you have also seen that even saints have difficulty surviving in the Lord's dream. They need the protection of angels and even the guidance of giant snakes. It is impossible that all the survivors in the East Continent are extraordinary people of middle and high sequences, right? Only by opening up the Giant King's Court and opening the real door can the inner and outer worlds be unified and a normal path be formed."

"Ordinary people can also leave through this road. This is what your ritual is for."

There are no roads in the normal sense in most parts of the "God-forsaken Land", but it is not difficult to walk on it because there are large areas of barren wilderness and dark black is the main color of everything.

Occasionally, plants can be seen growing tenaciously in the wilderness. They are bizarre and extremely twisted. Klein has no way of telling what the prototypes of these things are. The classics of Silver City and Moon City also use bloody lessons to remind future generations not to rashly touch such things.

All around, where the firelight could not reach, the shadows seemed to have a life of their own.

The dream floats in the sky. The shadows in the corners are deep and seem to be wriggling silently, swallowing up everything they cover.

Of course, Klein didn't think there was anything wrong with Medici's idea. He took a hardcover notebook from Hermes. The cover didn't feel like cowhide, and he didn't know what material it was made of. It provided good protection for the notebook itself.

He took out a leather map made of the same material as the book cover, and swept his eyes over the vague road outlined on it and the sixteen red crosses scattered like stars around the road. Then he picked up a branch from the ground and quickly used the simple "divination stick method" to divine their approximate current location, the distance from their location to the nearest town, and their east, west, south, and north positions.

The East Continent is basically isolated from the spiritual world, but divination of directions does not require the help of the spiritual world.

During this process, Hermes observed the actions of this "ancient scholar" with great interest, while Medici took a quick glance and then took out a cigarette box from his pocket, rolled a strong cigarette, and began to puff leisurely.

"We are now in the southwest of the East Continent..."

Klein's fingers wandered over the leather map for a while, his heart pounding, and he felt the excitement of entering into myth and history.

This was not only because his "Ancient Scholar" potion was actively resonating with him, but also because Klein realized that he had finally come here and finally had the opportunity to cash the empty check he had given to "The Sun" long ago!
He was feeling more than just joy now. Klein even wanted to stretch his body vigorously, stretch himself, and then smile.

The plains in front of me were deserted, but at the end of the field of vision, there seemed to be something rising up, like debris or hills. The lightning in the sky illuminated the unnatural traces on the endless wasteland, all of which proved the existence of human beings, and that people here once lived.

"According to my divination results and the approximate locations reported by Moon City and Silver City, Moon City is actually closer now."

Klein muttered to himself.

I had seen the huge gray mist seal near Moon City in Sefirah Castle before. Now I had the opportunity to get close to the mist and see what it had to do with Sefirah Castle. Moon City was one of the largest towns I knew of in the East Continent. After daybreak, they would definitely actively search for other survivors if it was safe. All the survivors they could find would have gathered in Moon City. They would not encounter any other towns along the way...

...I just don’t know whether Silver City and Moon City have established any connection during this period of time.

Logically speaking, the leaders of the two towns are only Sequence 4 at most. They have not obtained Sequence 3, have no honorific name, and cannot summon messengers. They are also too far apart from each other. They only relied on the existence and help of "The Fool" to stabilize their steps, and barely communicated with each other and completed some maps of the God-Forsaken Land. So in the half month that I was gone, their communication should have completely stopped.

Klein flipped back a few pages of the notebook and found a blank, yellowed paper.

He took out a pen from the historical projection, and moved the tip of the pen along the route in his mind, drawing a long curve and then stopping.

"This location is roughly where Moon City is, with an error of no more than two kilometers. This should be our first stop."

Klein looked around and saw that the two angels did not express any objection, so he continued:
"It's about two days' journey from here. If nothing goes wrong, we will stop here for a while, take a good rest, discuss leaving the East Continent with High Priest Nim of Moon City, and then head northeast to the location of Silver City."

"Then the unexpected situation is that His Excellency the Angel of Time may have taken over the city instead of the Fool, expelled us, or even attacked us?" Hermes thoughtfully supplemented the part that Klein didn't say.

He is like a thoughtful steward who always takes every detail into consideration.

"Moon City... I haven't been there for almost two thousand years. I don't know what it looks like now."

Hermes looked into the distance and spoke slowly.

Then, He turned around and looked at Klein, with a light flashing in his eyes:
"You know more about the God-Forsaken Land than I thought. Are you from Silver City? Or Moon City? Or a remnant of another city-state?"

"Pull it down."

Medici took a deep puff of the cigarette, and smoked out a third of it in one puff. The smoke and the tiny flame drifted out from the corner of His mouth. He pointed at Klein and said with a half-smile:

"He is not from Silver City or Moon City. He is not from here. He is..." Medici smiled and blew a puff of smoke at Hermes. The smoke slowly dissipated in the air, forming a vague picture. The War Angel kept it a secret, and it seemed that he himself did not know how to explain Klein. In short, he said vaguely:
"He is a fellow countryman of the Lord."

"He might not dare to say it, so I'll tell you - there are less than 30,000 people left in the East Continent."

The atmosphere between the three of them became heavy for a moment.

"...Compared to the East Continent in our memories, there are indeed fewer people in the East Continent now. No, it is almost deserted."

Hermes did not seem to be affected too much by this. He looked into the distance, which happened to be the direction of Moon City, and explained: "I can see it. It is night now... I can see that there are only tens of thousands of dreams belonging to the living in the East Continent."

Klein explained at the right time.

"The people of the East Continent have already used up all their strength just to survive. The situation in the two cities has improved. In addition, they have found food and gained sunlight, so the population should increase slightly."

After all, he had lived with the people of the God-Forsaken Land for about a year, and knew more about the situation here than Medici and Hermes.

"Compared to the deaths from hunting and distortion, the thing that hurt them the most was actually... the ancient sun god who no longer responded to them."

Klein gritted his teeth and said this, but fortunately, the two angels were not fanatics whose faith overwhelmed their reason. They had seen and even experienced the "Great Cataclysm" and the "Feast of Betrayal" with their own eyes. Now that they set foot on this land again, they had more insights than Klein.

"Tell me about it." Medici raised his chin, motioning him to continue.

"okay."

Klein paused, scribbled down the new map in his hand, then stood up and dusted himself off.

He could sense that they all wanted to listen.

Ouroboros was not here, and Klein was the one who knew the God-Forsaken Land best. They all wanted to listen, and were willing to listen to Klein's opinions and ideas. Perhaps it was not what Klein said that touched them, but that some of his words coincided with their ideas.

"This is what I learned when I was communicating with the people of the East Continent."

Klein calmed himself down, and Medici walked forward. As they walked, they listened to Klein recount some of his experiences:
"The Aurora Society believes that the East Continent is a sanctuary, and the people in it were later led here by the 'Angel of Destiny', so they are called the Chosen People. But in fact, the Chosen People live in such an environment. The polluted land cannot grow food, and the plants that grow on it and the flowing water cannot be eaten. The living environment is already very difficult, but living without hope day after day will make them give up their faith."

"In fact, I think the people in Silver City and Moon City are all very good, very good."

Klein followed Medici and strolled through the wilderness of the Eastern Continent.

As he entered the depths of the God-Forsaken Land step by step, Klein endured the gazes of pairs of eyes in the depths of darkness. These eyes were afraid of the might of the angels and dared not approach, but they still hid far away, coveting Klein. He was like a piece of ham carried by the angels.

As an "ancient scholar", Klein only glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw one "spiritual line" after another extending from the dark surrounding him. They were illusory, dense, and countless, indicating that there were a large number of monsters lurking in the darkness.

These monsters were extremely quiet, just staring at Klein, watching them walking in the desolate wilderness.

Klein did not take those dangers to heart. He resonated with the Ancient Scholar potion wholeheartedly, watching himself gradually walk into history and become a part of future history - this gave him an exceptionally wonderful feeling.

"People can bring all their strength together to develop the most efficient system to keep everyone alive..."

"Faith became their pillar and a symbol of their unity, but they did not blindly believe in God like the outside world did... The simplest example is that when The Fool showed his friendliness and stance, and brought tangible benefits to the two cities, people quickly changed their beliefs, but at the same time they still had awe and respect for the ancient sun god."

"This kind of city, this kind of people, and this kind of concept are unique to the East Continent. It is impossible for them to exist in the outside world."

Klein felt a sense of sadness as he spoke.

"Sometimes I can't help but wonder... Is it only in such extreme situations that people can put aside their prejudices and unite together?"

"After these people leave here, will they be gradually corrupted and assimilated by the outside world?"

"Just like the friction between countries that led to war, and just like Loen attacked the Allies for profit, I want to help them leave here and go to the outside world, but I am afraid that they will gradually change and become unrecognizable after they really go out."

Before he could finish his words, he was suddenly pushed hard by Medici.

"Why do you think so much? Are you free?"

The War Angel looked confused, so He rubbed Klein's head vigorously:
"People have desires, and they should have desires. Do you think they would rather eat bread and monsters in this remote place, or go out to eat and drink well without having to tremble in fear? Also, you shouldn't be hostile to war. War is the most direct way for humans to express their feelings!"

Klein was rubbed so hard that he was shaken from side to side, and it took a long time for Medici to let go of his hand.

He seemed to have untied a knot in his heart, and suddenly heaved a sigh of relief and laughed out loud: "You are right, I should look at the bright side."

Hermes watched them from the side, with a gentle smile on his face all the time. Lightning flashed in the sky, and he occasionally introduced Klein to the surrounding wreckage of facilities and the customs and practices of the Eastern Continent.

After about a dozen lightning strikes, Klein's feet suddenly turned and he was almost tripped by something.

He lowered his head and saw that it was a small protruding piece of stone slab with obvious traces of human carving on it.

They continued to move forward and saw several half-built buildings that looked like the tops of spires scattered in the shadow of a hill less than a hundred meters away. More than a dozen giant stone pillars that were only as high as Klein's knees protruded from the ground around them. A small amount of weeds grew from the gaps between them, and the tips were dark red like blood.

"Has anyone ever lived here?" Klein rubbed his forehead again and asked.

"Perhaps." Hermes said. When the East Continent was at its peak, there were countless cities of all sizes, and He did not remember them all.

Even if I remembered everything, the changes in topography over the past thousand years have made most of my memories no longer match reality.

"Perhaps, this was originally a large city-state. When the great catastrophe came, the earth cracked, and flames and thunder fell from the sky, engulfing the entire city. Perhaps there were survivors, but they gradually perished in the subsequent disaster. Only these are left to prove that it once existed."

The destruction of civilization... This thought suddenly popped up in Klein's mind. He quickened his pace and arrived at his destination in the strange weeds.

After entering a half-collapsed building, Klein instinctively looked around and observed the place.

On the gray-white stone wall with cracks, there are murals that have been washed away by thousands of years of time. They have long been blurred, and one can only vaguely see that the people of this city-state are proud to enter heaven after death.

On a piece of the wreckage, Klein grabbed a bunch of Seville chrysanthemums from history and gently placed them in the center of the ruins.

This is the final tribute given to the victims by later generations.

Then they moved on, into darkness and wasteland.

TBC
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"Give me a hand."

"climb."